Day 6 - Ghosts
by Mononoke-hime x sukai kurora
Summary: Sasuke has always been followed by ghosts. It hasn't changed with the Fourth Shinobi War being over. Now with Sakura by his side, the Uchihas stand by the Uchiha memorial.


Does anyone remember seeing the huge rock with two Uchiha symbols that stood behind Sasuke when Boruto was showing him the tiny Rasengan? It was only shown in _Boruto: Naruto Next Generations_ chapter two on page twenty-two. I decided to write a short story about it tied to SasuSaku 2018 month. ^ - ^ I hope you like it!

* * *

 _ _Day 6 - Ghosts__

The ghosts followed him wherever he went. Uchiha Sasuke was not prone to emotional outburst, so at first glance, you did not see whatever was obscured in the mismatched eye of the legendary Rinnegan and one obsidian eye. There were times in which the Shadow Hokage could feel the ghosts haunting him, grasping at his cloak, whispering to him or shouting in rage and hate. Sometimes, Sasuke found himself lost in the past – his brother's, or his own, which didn't matter – they were all connected.

The days waning to the anniversary of when his clan was massacred, ordered by Danzō and the Konoha elders by his older brother's gentle hand no longer tormented him as it used to. On the first year, Sasuke had been more unsociable than usual, prone to dark outbursts of frustration. Even his silly fangirls knew to leave him alone that day. The teachers whispered among themselves, heads hung long and not meeting the hatred in his eyes, giving the eight year old child a wide berth. He spent most of the day after the Academy training until he collapsed. The child Sasuke wouldn't acknowledge what the adult Sasuke acknowledged now: his subconscious had exhausted itself so that his body would be too exhausted for tears. The later anniversaries were similar. Training, punishing his body until daybreak, determined to kill his brother, and then destroy Konoha. Now however, Sasuke was simply still. He was barely twenty years old, and yet the heaviness in his chest remained. Enough time had passed that no one remembered the date anymore, or the significance.

There were still a few hesitant eyes following him wherever he went, and Sasuke understood that a part of him would not belong to the village he had once thought as home.

Sakura was the only one who was able to comprehend the emotional burden that he carried inside of him. His new wife – and of how his heart quickened at the sound – didn't say a word as her beautiful emerald eyes watched as a shadow echoed across his face. That was the thing about Sakura. Unlike her pre-teen self, the pink haired _Uchiha_ didn't try to soothe with words, or attempt to fill emptiness by chatter. Instead, Sasuke felt her smaller hand grasp his own. Warmth tingled along his fingertips, and Sasuke felt his slightly relax. His wife didn't need to use medical ninjutsu to heal him. She was medical ninjutsu herself. Becoming a jonin at the end of the war, Sakura quickly advanced in this war-torn world. Sasuke had heard she had created a mental health clinic for children shortly after he began his journey of redemption. A small part of him was grateful that she recognized the places he talked about, for although he did not mind explaining to her about anything, there was a certain calmness in Sakura that he wanted to continue to have. What if it would disappear if he continued to talk about the frozen ice-caps of Yukigakure, or other faraway lands? There were things that he wanted to say that he didn't say before.

Sakura had said that she had created the children's mental health clinic to aid the children orphaned and traumatized by the war, and to prevent cases like Naruto and Sasuke happen again. _"It is quite difficult right now with so many orphaned children by the war, and displaced. Some of them don't remember their own names." Sakura's emerald eyes shined with unshed tears, and Sasuke knew she was imagining their pain. "Even so, everyone is trying to create a world in which they are safe and know they belong."_

Sasuke could observe his wife's passionate voice about certain subject areas, especially medical ninjutsu and new techniques she or her mentor had developed – for hours. _Perhaps, back then,_ he thought as the sunlight streaked across his wife's back and into her hair, the cherry-blossom color more stunning to his eyes. _If I hadn't been clouded in darkness, I would have fallen in love with you._

Sasuke shook the wistful thought away. There was only now.

The idea for an Uchiha memorial had been Sakura's idea. It had been more than ten years since the Uchiha Clan Massacre, and everything that had once belonged to Sasuke, including the Uchiha district with still drying blood-stains and echoing with screams of horror, had been destroyed with Pain's _Chibaku Tensei._ Sasuke now regretted not holding onto the memories that he once had with his family. Now as an adult, he understood that memories faded with time, as evidence by his lack of ability to recall the majority of his clan member's names. Sakura had suggested building a memorial for the Uchiha clan. Sasuke still remembered of how frightened Kakashi was, and of how Naruto had gulped in pure terror at rage building in Sakura's eyes and expression as the woman realized that truth about the Uchiha clan had not been spoken to her at the time they had met Sasuke in the Land of Iron three years ago. Sasuke knew that nothing good would come from trying to protect someone from the truth. _"Perhaps if I had told you the truth…"_ Sasuke stared at the crumpled plans for the memorial, and at the terrified and sheepish looks across his ex-teammate's and ex-teacher's faces as the strongest medical ninja in the world was probably creating craters from her fist. Kakashi and Naruto were trying to protect Sakura from the truth, convinced that she wouldn't be able to handle it. _Humph,_ Sasuke allowed himself a small smirk. _Fools._

There was an imposing rock that served as the plaque. Sasuke wanted to make the memorial simple. The Uchiha clan may have attempted a coup d'état, but they had been people with hopes and dreams. How many years had they endured the scorn and fear of Konohagakure until it had turned into hate? White rice hemp made into a rope-like structure called _shimenawa_ , and _shide_ paper that were attached to it, made in a lightning-like shape, were above rock the Uchiha clan symbol. They stretched a couple of meters. One _shimenawa_ , with _shide_ paper long and wide, almost reached a young tree. It was not known to many in the Uchiha clan, but because Sasuke was the son of the clan leader, he remembered that to the Uchiha, always laid _shimenawa_ and _shide_ on personal shrines to purify the souls of the dead.

This was his way of allowing the ghosts of his past to rest.

Sasuke read the three hundred ten names of the Uchiha clan, each individual name a shiver along his spine. He felt his wife squeeze his hand gently as his eyes settled on the last name on the rock.

 _Uchiha Itachi._

Would his brother be proud of him now? Would he be happy to know that _he_ saved a person from the darkness, Chino of the Chinoikie clan, whose fate was eerily similar to his own? Sasuke was certain that his older brother would have loved Sakura, but what would say to Sasuke's hidden doubts?

"Sasuke- _kun_ …" Sasuke turned to his wife, who was looking at him the most uncertain face she had since their genin days.

"Sakura."

A rosy blush echoed across Sakura's beautiful features. Her skin seemed to glow in the sun, the sunlight brushing against her cherry blossom hair after which she was named, and gave her husband a blissful smile.

"I'm pregnant, Sasuke- _kun_."

The ghosts faded away from his grasp.


End file.
